Junie B Jones: Culinary Capers
by Huck23
Summary: Junie B. Jones and the gang enter High School and Junie B. discovers that she has talent for cooking and baking. At the same timer her old foe That Jim discovers the same thing. After too much bickering and arguing the two are picked by the Culinary Arts teacher to do a team entry for the High School State Culinary Adjudication, will the two learn to get along?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer (my first time doing one of these so hopefully it doesn't completely suck): Junie B. Jones and characters from the original story are the property of Barbra Parks and do not belong to me.

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_9th Grade._

I hadn't really thought about it all summer. I mean who really spends their summer vacation thinking about going to school?_ Even if it's high school?_

I spent my summer between Adventure Land, the lake in the woods behind my house, and at various friends' houses. The only conversation about high school that we had all summer was one July afternoon spent at Lucille's house. It was one of the hottest days of the summer. So hot that everyone just felt like dumb lazy bunnies; not moving at all and barely talking. We had decided on hanging at Lucille's house that day because she had a large indoor pool in the ground level of her parents' mansion. The large foot shaped pool was in a big open room with tinted windows and it was surrounded by white lounge chairs.

Lucille, Lenny, Sheldon, Grace, Herbert, Jose and I, were in the lounge chairs; even though we were in swim suits none of us had made it to the pool.

"I am going to be Lucy."

I scrunched up my nose as if I had smelled something fishy and turned to face Lucille stretched in the lounge chair beside me. She was in a white and pink polka dot two-piece bathing suite with a bikini top and a ruffle skirt bottom and her blond hair was tied back with a pink scrunchy.

"Huh?" I asked in unison with Lenny, Grace, Herbert, Sheldon and Jose.

"Silly Junie B, I'm talking about my name for next school year!"

That statement was followed another "Huh?" from the group.

She made a huffy sound and rolled her eyes in irritation. "It's what I want to be called in high school. It fits a young woman," She stated before crinkling her nose and squealing a bit, "plus it's super cute!"

"Oh, oh, oh, I'll be Don." Sheldon proclaimed jumping up and flexing pretend muscles on his spaghetti arms. "It sounds manly and confident!" He was grinning from ear to ear and his floppy blond hair was all over his face.

"Manly, eh?" Grace snorted eying his Sponge Bob swim trunks and lime green swim flippers.

"He's manly enough!" Lucille shouted. Sheldon's face went beet red

"Hmm…well I was Herb before so I think Herb'll be fine for the future." Herbert said yawning as he relaxed on the lounge chair with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. He was in no shirt and wearing navy blue swim trunks.

"Porque?" Jose asked "As "Lucy" has just enlightened us we can be different names in high school! More fitting ones! You could be Bert!"

Herb opened one eye and then turned to the left so he could face Jose. "Then what would you change yours to?"

Jose thought for a second. "Luca is my middle name, so maybe Luc?"

Grace smiled. "That's pretty cool. Maybe I'll be Corin or Cory after my middle name since Grace is hard to shorten." Grace was in the chair on the other side of me. She was wearing a dark purple one piece and her dark brown hair, done up in two strand twists, fell to her shoulders.

"But I like calling you Gray." I whined but only a little.

Grace smiled even bigger. "You know what? Gray is perfect! Since it was given to me by my best friend Junie B!"

Lenny made a gagging sound and then chuckled. "Get a room you mushy bunnies! Oh and I'll be Len." He thought for a second. "I've always wanted to be a plumber!"

Everyone broke into laughter.

"So what about you Junie B.?" Lucille asked. "While I think Junie B. is adorable maybe you could make it a little fancier for high school."

I fingered my orange one piece while trying to think of something. I always used Junie B. Because I don't like Beatrice, Junie Beatrice is way too long and Junie doesn't sound too great on its own. Dang it! Why is so dang hard to pick a new name?

"How about June?" Grace suggested, my own face and everybody else's told her otherwise. "Okay never mind, I _was _just making a suggestion."

I shrugged, "I'll figure something out."

After that we all just went back to being lazy bunnies for the rest of the day

* * *

The very, very beginning of my first day of 9th grade began wonderfully. I went through my usual morning routine:

-I woke up to Mother screaming for me to wake up and silently wished that Daddy was home from his business trip in Chicago so that the morning wakeup call involved a little less yelling and a more gentler approach.

-Got dressed in a pair a navy blue jeans, an orange ruffle top, and a pair of black high tops.

-Kissed Philip Johnny Bob goodbye before leaving my room; I love that old stuffed elephant to pieces!

-Brush and flossed.

-Had two bowls of Cocoa Puff cereal.

-Stomped back upstairs to make my bed up after mother screamed for me to do so. Apparently throwing my blankets and pillows any kind of way isn't "making" a bed up.

-Escaped to the bus stop lickedy split to meet Grace/Gray before Mother could scream at me do anything else.

Overall the morning start was great and even my bus ride to school went wonderfully (a big surprise since I hate those things). To be honest, the day and the rest of the year seemed like it was going to be great. I was going to have my first two periods with Gray (and a few classes with my other friends throughout the day) and B lunch with the entire group.

I smiled at Gray as we entered Parkville High. "I think 9th grade will be the best school year ever!" I said with a huge smile stretched across my face.

Gray nodded in agreement. "What could go wrong?"

Gray and I spoke way, _way_ too soon.

Suddenly I was shoved into a set of gray lockers by the front doors of the school. I vaguely heard Gray shout angrily, I was in so much shock about someone having shoved me.

As Grace pulled me and my books up off of the ground I heard a familiar voice shout:

"Stay outta my way, Jones!"

I scrunched up my face in anger. I knew that guy, it was Jim.

That Jim, I hate that guy!

After I stood up and dusted myself off I turned to see Gray smiling at me. "What I asked?"

"Nothin' Jones." she grinned.

"Oh NO!" I shout. "NO NO NO!"

A teacher with bushy eyebrows gave me a warning glance before disappearing back into a classroom a few feet down the hall.

As Gray and I began to walk to first period again she turned to me smiling. "It's somethin' Jones."

Ugh, being called Jones and going to School with That Jim. My life truly sucks

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A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! And sorry if there are any typos and/or grammatical errors, tried to edit but I'm not sure if I got everything.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I originally planned to write a story with 4 different plots involving the entire group but I decided to narrow it down to just one. So now the Junie B. plot is the main story and I've changed the title and summary to reflect that. Also I realized I rushed through some parts of this chapter so expect that this version will probably be replaced at some point in the near future.

Disclaimer: Junie B. Jones and other original characters from the Junie B. Jones series are the property of Barbara Parks and Random House.

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After the Jim incident in the hallway the rest of the day went by pretty smoothly.

I had my first class, Geometry, with Gray and Lucy. We got a syllabus and took a pre-test. Yuck!

I spent the next two classes, English and Government, by myself. Then I had Spanish III with May of all people. I hadn't seen that tattle-tale girl since 6th grade when we had an Earth science class together. We were assigned the same table to sit at, therefore making us lab partners for every in class assignment. Everything out of her mouth was Junie Jones did this and Junie Jones did that. However, today she was okay. No more tattling. She told me, while she was chatting my ear off, that she'd went to therapy for it and now tattling was all out of her system. Something about insecurity and pointing out other peoples flaws as a coping mechanism.

After Spanish I had B lunch with the entire gang. Lucy talked about Mr. Steven the Math teacher and how he wanted her to switch to Pre-Calculus because she was so good at math. Lucy seemed to love math almost as much as she loved money, fashion and anything she described as cute. Gray and Herb were chatting happily about English and the Play/Film project on a Shakespeare play the teacher was assigning them to do in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Len and I watched as Jose (I'll never get use to Luc) and Strong Don (as Sheldon decided it should be now) argued about running for class president. Lunch reminded of Middle school; we'd all just sit in our own world chatting, joking and laughing. Lunch gave me hope that High school wouldn't be so bad even if it had to be with that Jim.

After Lunch I had Biology with Len. We choose a lab station in the back of the window where we could stare out of the window while the teacher droned on about the class and read from the syllabus; we both disliked science. After Biology I headed for Art, the only class where we weren't handed a syllabus and lectured at. Instead the class got to draw for the entire 45 minute period. The Art teacher explained to us that this would be the last time we'd ever get to draw whatever so we might as well enjoy it. Sad or very depressing as Mother would say. My second to last class was Engineering. I shared this class with Herb. Like most of my classes throughout the day we were introduced to the teacher, assigned seats, given a syllabus and some contact sheets to fill out and return and then we sat the rest of the class either introducing ourselves or talking with other students. Herb and I both agreed that Engineering though since we would be fun for the most part since we would be doing several construction projects throughout the year.

After Engineering I went to my final class, the class I had been waiting for all day: Culinary Arts.

Over the summer my Daddy had to go on a business trip to China. Some type of international expansion thing for his company. It was like the business trip to Hawaii I had went on with him and Mother when I was in the first grade. Except a GAZILLION times better and it was 2 weeks instead of 2 lousy days. Ollie and I didn't get to go though, only Daddy and Mother 'cause they didn't want kids going along. So Ollie and I were shipped off to Grandpa Miller's and Grandma Helen's house.

I love those guys to pieces but hanging with your grandparents and little brother is so boring. So I hung out with friends all throughout the visit.

However, on the morning of the day my parents were due back, Grandma Helen pulled me into the kitchen before I could leave to ride bikes with Herb and Gray. On the granite topped island in the center of her kitchen she had laid out a mixing bowl, a large wooden spoon, a glass measuring cup, a carton of eggs, a small glass bottle of vanilla, flour, a stick of butter, oil, sugar, German baking chocolate, dark chocolate icing and a fresh raspberries in a bowl. On the stove she had to coated cake pans and the oven was set to 350 degrees.

I just sat there taking in the sight 'cause Daddy says sometimes we just have to stand there and take in the scenery before it all comes to us as Grandma Helen shoved a cook book in my hands. The cookbook was very old and worn, I had seen Grandma Helen use it during the several Thanksgivings and Christmases I had spent at her house. The book was opened to a recipe for German Chocolate cake.

Grandma Helen had smiled at me and said, "Have at it!"

So I did. And besides a few minor mishaps, like forgetting the eggs the first time around and accidentally getting batter on the kitchen ceiling, I really did a good job. I successfully prepared a German Chocolate cake with dark chocolate icing and raspberry topping. Grandma Helen said it was the best cake she had ever tasted. Grandpa Miller said the same. Even Ollie agreed! So I know it was good, that boy never gives me any compliments!

I ever since that day I have loved cooking, especially baking.

The Culinary Arts class was located in a larger (better looking) kitchen above the regular cafeteria. The other culinary students and I had to walk up a flight of steps that was located just before the cafeteria's kitchen entrance in order to get to the culinary kitchen's large black double doors.

As the students passed through the black double doors and entered the Culinary Arts kitchen there was a chorus of 'oooohs' and 'aaaaahs'. Behind me I could hear a boy say "This is awesome!" The voice sounded familiar but I shrugged it off and entered.

As soon as I got inside I could see why everyone was so excited. The kitchen was filled with 10 cooking stations, each with its own oven, stove top, microwave oven and a ton of counter space. All of the appliances at the stations were stainless steel Kenmore products. Above each station was a black number printed on a white card. In the back of the kitchen was a large food pantry with see through doors and two large refrigerators that witch see through doors as well on both sides of it. The floor of the classroom was done up in white tile that was so clean I could see my reflection in it. I looked at my image on the floor in amazement.

"Like what you see?"

Sitting on the counter top of a cooking station that was separated from the rest (making it the 11th station in the room) was a petite black woman with long black braids. She was wearing a white blouse and a long black skirt. On her face she wore a small smile.

The class gasped when they realized she was sitting there and remained frozen at the front of the classroom.

"Good Afternoon everyone! I'm Ms. James, the 9th grade Culinary Arts teacher and the head of the Culinary Arts program and head of the Culinary Magnet here at Parkville High. Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the Culinary Arts Education Kitchen."

No one said a word; the smile remained planted on Ms. James's face.

"How about we have some fun then?"

She was still met with silence but continued anyway.

"Every year I allow my culinary students to ask any three questions about me." As Ms. James made the statement the smile she wore was replaced by a wicked grin that slowly spread across her lips and her dark brown eyes seemed to twinkle mischievously.

A boy wearing beige pants and a red polo stepped forward; his arms were folded across his chest. "Anything?" He challenged.

Ms. James's grin grew. If her eyes seemed to twinkle before they were darn near dancing now!

Ms. James hopped down from the counter she had been perched on and the whole class of culinary students except for the boy shrunk back in unison. Then she proceeded to until her nose was inches away from the red polo wearing boy's face.

"Any. Thing." She said in a husky whisper. The she stepped back to eye the sweaty boy in front her; Mother would have said he was sweating like a pig.

He took a deep breath and then broke into a big toothy smile. He looked goofy and excitable. Kind of like a properly dressed clown. Clowns are not normal people; this boy is definitely not normal people.

"Do you love it? Like really love it?" He asked nearly jumping up and down.

Ms. James looked genuinely amused by the clown boy's excitableness. I do have to say that I admire that guy; I'd known Ms. James for less than an hour and I already thought she was scary. So much so that I think Ms. James and Mr. Scary from first grade should trade names, like lickety-split!

"Usually I let the class get together and discuss some questions and then decide which three they would like to ask but-"

Loud groans erupted from the mouths of the culinary students as they turned to glare at the red polo wearing boy, effectively cutting Ms. James off. The boy only shrugged and turned away from their glares.

Ms. James rolled her eyes. "But I will let," she pointed at red polo. "Name?"

"Jamal."

"Jamal's question be a freebie since I may be an itty-bit impressed by his confidence."

I learned in middle school that when a teacher uses the term itty-bit it usually means a ton. Such as the time my 7th grade teacher Mr. Sky told us that we'd only have an itty-bit of homework and ended up with two five page essays to write. So I'm sure Ms. James is very impressed by Jamal right now.

"Anyway to answer Jamal's question: Yes, yes I do. Otherwise I wouldn't be here teaching you all. I'd be in the Bahamas with some Bahama-Mamas."

"Prove it!" Jamal stated his large smile practically falling off of his face.

Ms. James's eyes danced with amusement and her lips curved into a small playful smile. You'd think her lips and eyes would hurt from all of the grinning and dancing they were doing. "I left a handsome screaming man and a terribly cute screaming toddler at an airport once in order to be taught by a very talented and very famous Italian chef."

"You serious?" Jamal asked disbelievingly.

All amusement left Ms. James's face. "Very much so." She then quickly changed the subject. "You all have five minutes to come up with two more questions to ask me, so I suggest you think quickly."

"B-but I thought you said we would still have three questions." A blond girl standing in front of me whined.

Ms. James's eyes were dancing with amusement again. "Why Jamal there asked a second, now didn't he." No one could argue with that.

Within five minutes we had chosen the two questions we wanted to ask her. I was a little huffy about the fact that the question I wanted to ask her ('Did she ever cook her own dinner in this kitchen?') wasn't chosen because it was too stupid. Dumb bunnies, what did they know anyway?

The first was:

"Did she have a boyfriend?"

It was a question that the blond girl who had been whining earlier came up with. Her name turned out to be Sarah. She was the one who said my question was stupid the loudest. Dumber Bunny!

Ms. James grinned. "No…I have girlfriend though."

Whoa!

I'm guessing Sarah and half the class thought so too because everyone gasped really loud and then got really quiet.

I learned in third that my reading teacher Mr. Lewis is gay from Paulie Allen Puffer. Paulie told me that his older brother said that it was rare to spot one because they usually lived in closets. When I told Grandma Helen about it she fainted and Mother and Daddy had to explain to me that Paulie and his older brother were wrong.

Ms. James only raised an eyebrow. "Next."

The second was:

"Have you ever been arrested?"

A boy named Alex came up with this questions. He said it was because he always wanted to catch a teacher not being so squeaky clean all the time. This started a thirty second argument between the group where we split into Team She's Not So Squeaky Clean Already and Team She Could Be Hiding More. I was a part of the first team; that woman is SCARY!

She responded, "Yes."

Even though the response was already expected the entire class except for Jamal (seriously that clown boy is not normal) gasped. And of course Jamal was the one to jump up excitedly and shout:

"REALLY? OH OH OH OH, WHAT FOR?"

And of course (again), Ms. James's lips curved into a sly grin as she stated. "I said three questions, not four."

After the Q&A session Ms. James proceeded to assign us cooking stations. This is when the second tragedy of the first day of ninth grade occurred.

In the education kitchen there are only 10 cooking stations and including myself there were 20 students. Because I am no dumb bunny I had a funny suspicion about what was about to happen and right then Ms. James confirmed it.

"There are 20 of you and only 10 cooking stations so you all will be split into 10 groups of two. I specifically designed the class this way." There goes that grin again. Shouldn't her face hurt by now? "When I call you and your partners name please go stand at the station I assign to you."

I gulped. I have no problems working in groups with others but if the teacher chose them it usually spelled disaster for me.

Ms. James pulled out a clip board with a layout of education kitchen and began to read from it.

Double gulp.

And then it happened.

"Station #1: Junie-Beatrice Jones and Jim Thomas."

I groaned internally. Mother taught me to do that when I was in 5th grade; she said doing it my head was better than doing it aloud. She said she did it all the time.

I quickly made my way over to the station with the big 1 overhead and Jim followed suit. When Ms. James began to call names again That Jim turned to me with a big smirk on his face and whispered:

"I guess it's just you and me, huh Jones?"

My cheeks turned red from the anger bubbling up inside me. Why me? Suddenly I couldn't contain myself. Mother says should contain myself like a lid on a jelly jar. But I am not a jelly jar, darn it!

"NO JIM IT IS NOT JUST YOU AND ME." I shouted.

The class gasped and Ms. James turned to me with a glare.

"Jones," She stated. I heard a snicker come from beside me. "Do I need to inform you about the rules regarding yelling in my class?" She looked around the class with the same glare was giving me. "Do I need to inform any of you about the rules regarding yelling in my class?"

I shook my head as did everyone else present, even Jamal who was still smiling like a silly clown.

"Good." Then she turned around and began assigning seats again.

I put my head against the cooking station's counter and groaned, this time externally. Sometimes these things just can't be held in.

After Ms. James assigned seats she handed out a packet on kitchen safety to the class and then the afternoon announcements came on. When the bell rung Ms. James dismissed the class and I ran out of there lickety-split. I didn't stop running until I was on the bus sitting between Herb and Gray, relieved to be in between two good friends.


End file.
